Dan Cameron wants to put New Orleans in the big picture

Dan Cameron, the CAC's new director of visual art, has a grand plan: to frame an international art extravaganza here next year, featuring work of the world's top artists and drawing 100,000 visitors from near and far.

STAFF PHOTO BY ELLIS LUCIA

Dan Cameron sounded confident. It was Nov. 1, just 365 days from the opening of "Prospect 1 New Orleans," a $2.9 million, citywide art extravaganza that Cameron hopes will make the Crescent City an international art destination for 11 weeks in 2008, drawing as many as 100,000 visitors.

Asked if there was enough time to locate all of the necessary exhibition sites, make arrangements with 75 of the hottest artists from across the globe, and scare up the more than $2 million still needed, Cameron said: "Sure.

"We've met all of our deadlines ahead of time so far. Almost all of our artists are committed. I feel more on schedule than I ever have."

Cameron, 50, a one-time punk rocker, known world-round for his command of cutting-edge art trends, has organized major exhibits on five continents (Australia remains to be conquered), including large-scale international exhibitions in Taipei, China, and Istanbul, Turkey.

In 2007, Cameron left the plum position as senior curator of the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York after 10 years, because, he said, "entering a second decade in a committed relationship was too much."

In May, he took the post of director of visual art at New Orleans' much humbler Contemporary Arts Center on Camp Street, agreeing to lend his curatorial cachet to the center as he produced his stupendous pet project, Prospect 1.

Cameron is a longtime fan of New Orleans, who has attended all but one New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival since 1987. He began imagining a Crescent City-based international art exhibition just months after Hurricane Katrina, when he came to the storm- and flood-ravaged city to speak at the Arthur Roger Gallery about the survival of the city's arts and culture.

"It's been in some form of development since January 2006," Cameron said of the city-spanning exhibition. "I've had a lot of time to envision it. I can also say we have most of our venues committed."

Those 11 venues are the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Newcomb Art Gallery, the Historic New Orleans Collection (Royal Street annex), the Louisiana State Museum's Old U.S. Mint, the National World War II Museum, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, the New Orleans African American Museum, the struggling Louisiana

ArtWorks (if it is open by that time), the new Lower 9th Ward exhibition space L9 and, of course, the CAC. All have agreed to turn over their exhibit spaces without charge.

The clean sweep of the Crescent City's major art institutions is a tribute to Cameron's clout.

If he succeeds, Prospect 1 will join the ranks of approximately 25 other international art exhibits staged in cities around the world, such as Sydney, Australia; Seville, Spain; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Shanghai, China; and Venice.

The Venice Biennale is held in a city that, like New Orleans, is a tourist magnet perpetually threatened by the water that surrounds it. The extravagant Venice show is the oldest, best-known, and one of the biggest (246 artists) of the bunch. From its 1895 inauguration, the every-other-year event has attracted the avant-garde. Some of the most audacious artists of their eras, from Gustav Klimt to Willem De Kooning to Anselm Kiefer (whose 1980 exhibit is said to have confused onlookers, because it was hard to tell if the German artist was criticizing or celebrating fascism), have added the Venice Biennale to their resumes.

The success of the six-month Venice show (which closed Nov. 21, having drawn 319,332 visitors during its 165-day run) continues to spawn imitators. Curiously, over more than a century, only one or two such international art exhibitions have taken root in the United States -- and neither quite fits the Venice model.

The Carnegie International, held every three or four years in Pittsburgh, has hosted a global array of artists since 1896, just a year after the Venice Biennale began. Yet the Carnegie show, held under one roof, may not have the widespread world's fair feel of the Venice show.

The first American international art exhibition, now called the Carnegie International drew a dapper crowd in 1886.

The annual Art Basel Miami Beach, which closes today after a three-day run, draws an international array of artists and art lovers to south Florida, but most observers say the event's emphasis on art sales is a far cry from the art-for-art's-sake Venice model.

New Orleans gallery owner Jonathan Ferrara, who attended Art Basel Miami Beach in 2006 and the Venice Biennale in 2007, described the difference in mega sporting event terms. Basel Miami, he said, is like the Super Bowl, "because the Super Bowl is so overtly commercial¤.¤.¤. as opposed to the Venice Biennale, which is like the Olympics. It's more about the actual art than the commerce."

The time is ripe for a Venice-style American art show, some authorities say.

"It's remarkable that there isn't one," said Robert Storr, dean of the Yale University School of Art and the director of the 2007 Venice Biennale. "If he (Cameron) puts together one that takes advantage of what New Orleans is, and puts together something fresh, then he'll have done something important."

Vasif Kortun, curator of the 1992 and 2005 Istanbul Biennials, says the political usefulness of a new American international exhibition is a "no-brainer." The United States, in his view, has become culturally insulated since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, a situation he considers "unhealthy for everyone." Kortun believes "art is a good tool" to undo American isolation.

Even Richard Armstrong, director of the Carnegie Museum of Art, site of the Carnegie International exhibition (who could see Prospect 1 as competition), welcomes the proposed Crescent City show.

"The dedicated thousands who go to these things would go every week if they had to," he said, referring to the insatiable jet-set art lovers said to circulate from one international venue to the next.

"Those people," he said, "can't get enough."

Indeed, if Prospect 1 becomes a reality, a cadre of well-heeled art aficionados could fill hotels, dine in New Orleans restaurants and perhaps purchase art from local galleries, fueling the local economy as they spend two or three days perusing the exhibits throughout the city.

Mary Beth Romig, the New Orleans Convention and Tourist Bureau's director of communications, said Prospect 1 has become a new "talking point" used to promote the Crescent City as a cultural destination, especially to international travelers. She said Cameron is expected to meet with representatives of the New Orleans hospitality industry in the near future, to help them plan for the new event.

Storr acknowledged that Prospect 1 may draw a certain number of wealthy art lovers, but the bulk of the audience, he assured, will be made up of humbler folk, including students and regional tourists.

"A lot of the emphasis will be on high-rollers," he said, "but that's not what biennials are for."

Biennial ticket prices are typically low, perhaps to accommodate the backpack tourist set. Admission to the Venice Biennale is 15 Euros ($22), Istanbul Biennial tickets sell for half the cost of a Big Mac (says Kortun) and Carnegie International admission is $15 (which includes entry to the natural history museum as well). The first Prospect 1 will be free.

Whether biennials are for the high-rollers or more modest art lovers, many observers believe that New Orleans is an ideal location for one, because of its rich cultural history, its recent post-Katrina notoriety, and its geography. The Istanbul Biennial, which drew 84,000 visitors this year, is Cameron's most direct model for Prospect 1, because Istanbul, like New Orleans, is a historic port city pinched between bodies of water. The Crescent City's relatively small size and readily available public transit will allow easy access to Prospect 1 sites from Uptown to the French Quarter to the Warehouse District to Mid-City.

Scattered sites have certain advantages.

Kortun said widely spaced show places eliminate the "exhibition fatigue" art lovers suffer when too many artworks are concentrated in a single location. Between sites "you forget the exhibition and get lost in the real world," he said.

Storr said the scattered sites also will help people "discover the city" in a way they wouldn't if the art were concentrated in one place.

Seducing out-of-town visitors to discover New Orleans has never been more important than now, with the number of tourists visiting the battered city still low.

"New Orleans has certainly had incredible difficulties," Storr said. "Something like this could be a real shot in the arm for the self-image, and economically."

Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu, who has made the Louisiana State Museum's Old U.S. Mint available for the exhibition, hopes that Prospect 1 will be as successful at melding culture and tourism as the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Satchmo SummerFest and White Linen Night.

"This particular idea has a long history of success around the world," he said. "It fits nicely into what we have in mind as we develop what I call the cultural economy. It becomes related to tourism. One of the reasons people come here is because we have a very rich and deep culture."

For his part, Cameron said that a new arts event can only boost the popularity of a city already well-known for its art, architecture and culture.

"The Venetians are the first to tell you," he said, "if it wasn't for the Biennale, the state of tourism would be much cruder."

DesCours, an art and architecture festival produced by the American Institute of Architects, is taking place in various locations around New Orleans through Friday. Though it's a much smaller event than most international art exhibitions, it may give the Crescent City a taste of what Cameron has in store.

There seem to be few naysayers where Prospect 1 is concerned. The stumbling block, however, may be the finances.

"It's not like a sports event where tickets will erase the cost," Storr said. "If the resources aren't sufficient to do it well, it will come a cropper."

Cameron's strategy to raise the necessary money includes a nonprofit organization (U.S. Biennial Inc.) with a 15-member board of directors to oversee Prospect 1's progress, and three employees to help with the day-to-day management and money-raising. He said the $2.9 million budget will be the biggest he ever has handled.

Prospect 1 received $600,000 in seed money from a pair of art-world benefactors: insurance magnates Peter Lewis (former president of the board of directors of the Guggenheim Museum) and his former wife Toby Devan Lewis (a board member of the New Museum) in November 2006. Almost $200,000 more has come in since the project received its nonprofit tax status in August, said Cameron, leaving a gap of $2.1 million.

Cameron said he plans to appeal to the state Legislature, U.S. State Department, Downtown Development District and other government sources, including foreign governments, for 20 percent of the balance ($400,000). He expects various art-oriented philanthropic organizations, including the Warhol, Getty and Rockefeller foundations to contribute 30 percent more ($600,000). He hopes to receive 20 percent from private corporations and the final 30 percent from individuals, most of whom live outside of Louisiana.

"We don't want to be a burden," he said of his decision to seek out-of-state money. "There's only finite resources available. In many cases, people have other commitments, and that's intensified after Katrina. We want to structure this as something that's given to the people of Louisiana, not taken from them."

Though he said his track record as a money manager has been good, Cameron admits that the 2003 Istanbul Biennial, which he curated, ran 10 percent over budget -- leaving some hard feelings behind, as the sponsors were forced to pay the cost overrun.

"I was really embarrassed," he said of the incident.

To keep track of Prospect 1's pocketbook, Cameron said, he has established checkpoints at nine, six and three months from opening day, when he will apprise his board of the financial progress. If the money is not rolling in at the predicted rate, he said, he may have to "tighten the belt significantly or ask the board to dig deeper."

Don Marshall, executive director of the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Foundation and former CAC director, believes that, considering the large amount of money Cameron has already raised, Prospect 1 will take place, even if the $2.9 million goal isn't met.

"Whether or not there are some in-kind cutbacks or whatever, it's going to happen," he said.

And when it happens, Marshall believes, the world will be watching.

"Focusing the art world's attention on what's happening in New Orleans is going to have a great impact," he said. "We have an abundance of cultural and artistic riches. It takes a pied piper to pull those things together."

Arts writer Doug MacCash can be reached at dmaccash@timespicayune.com or at (504)¤826-3481.

DAN CAMERON

Born: Utica, N.Y., 1956, Sagittarius.

Graduated: Bennington Col´lege, Vermont, with a bache´lor's degree in philosophy, 1979; moved to New York City after graduation.

Rocked: Founder and vocal´ist with the post-punk band Infra-Dig, 1984-1989. "We played regularly at CBGB, Limbo Lounge, 8 BC, Cat Club, and those sorts of places," Cameron said.

Discovered New Orleans: Visited first in May 1987 for artist Peter Halley's exhibit at Arthur Roger Gallery. At´tended the closing day of Jazzfest, where he fell under the spell of the Neville Broth´ers and soft-shell crab po-boys.

Curated: High-profile exhibi´tions on five continents, in´cluding "Extended Sensibi´lities," the first U.S. museum exhibition of gay and lesbian contemporary art, held at the New Museum of Contempo´rary Art, New York, 1982; "Art and its Double," featur´ing works by art stars Jenny Holzer, Jeff Koons, Barbara Kruger and others, at Funda´cio "la Caixa," Barcelona, Spain, 1986, and Madrid, 1987; "Aperto 88," a segment of the Venice Biennale ded´icated to under-40 artists, Italy, 1988; "The New Or´leans Triennial," New Or´leans Museum of Art, 1995; "Poetic Justice," Interna´tional Istanbul Biennial, Is´tanbul, Turkey, 2003; "New York, Interrupted" at the pkm Gallery, Beijing, China, 2006.

Employment highlights: Director of visual art, Con´temporary Arts Center, New Orleans, 2007-present. Cura´tor of visual art for the Brook´lyn Academy of Music (BAM)'s annual Next Wave Festival, 2002-present. Chief curator, New Museum of Con´temporary Art in New York, 1995-2007.

Prospects: Producing "Pros´pect 1 New Orleans," the only Venice-Biennale-style inter´national art exhibition in the United States, scheduled to open Nov. 1. Splitting his time between his homes in New York and New Orleans.

INTERNATIONAL ART EXHIBITS AT A GLANCE

Venice Biennale, held at two major sites and scattered locations across the Italian city, established 1895, takes place every two years. 2007 exhibit ran June 10-Nov. 21), displaying works by 246 artists, to 319,332 visitors. Admission was 15 Euros ($22); budget, 9 million Euros ($13.3 million). Largely government sponsored.

Carnegie International, set in the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh, established 1896, takes place every three or four years (will take place from May 3, 2008, to Jan. 11, 2009), exhibits works by 35 to 40 artists, to 149,000 visitors (in 2004). Admission, $15; budget, in excess of $4 million. Largely privately funded.

Istanbul Biennial, held at scattered locations across the Turkish city, established 1987, takes place every two years (from mid-September to mid-November), exhibiting works of 85 artists (in 2003), to 65,000 visitors. Admission nominal; budget, $1.9 million. Privately funded.

Prospect 1 New Orleans will be held in scattered locations across the city, from Nov. 1, 2008, to Jan. 18, 2009, exhibiting works of 75 artists to an estimated 100,000 visitors. Admission will be free; budget, $2.9 million. Supported by private and public funding.